Christmas Tree Candle Holder

Another cute and very easy Christmas idea my kids and I stumbled upon was this clever little Christmas tree candle holder. I have my gorgeous sis-in-law to thank for this very neat festive craft.

What you need:

* Air drying clay

* Collection of star cookie cutters (variety of sizes)

* Sharp knife

* Green acrylic paint

* Paint brush

* White candles

How to do it:

Roll out the clay on a hard surface. Cut various sizes of stars out of the clay.

Place a candle in the center of the two smallest stars.

Carefully cut a circle around the candle leaving a round, candle-sized hole in the center of each of the smallest two stars.

Stack the stars on top of one another at haphazard angles. Start with the largest star and end with the two small stars bearing the holes. Make sure the holes line up with one another. Set the little pyramid aside to dry.

Once the clay is fully dried, paint the entire tree green. (Applying a varnish over the paint is a finishing option). Insert a candle in the holder at the top of the tree and decorate your Christmas table.

Felt Santa Hats

In preparation for Christmas, I needed a pattern for Santa hats for my, I mean, Santa's little helpers. I couldn't find any patterns readily, so I made my own. You can too. These are my easy step-by-step instructions for sewing a felt Santa hat.

What you need:

* Red felt

* Whit felt

* Scissors

* Red thread

* Whit thread

* Needle or sewing machine

* Tape measure

* Pins

* Bell or white pompom

How you do it:

Measure two isoceles triangles out of the red felt. Each triangle must have a base of 12" and a height of 15". Cut them out and stitch the edges together, leaving the base open. Turn the triangles inside out so that the seams are on the inside.

Measure a long rectangle out of the white felt, 24" by 3". Fold in half and stitch the short edges together. Now fold the rectangle in half lengthways so that the stitched seam is on the inside.

Slip the base of the red triangle into the white rectangle base so that the open edges are together. Stitch the white felt onto the red felt.

Turn the white felt down and iron flat. Stitch a white pompom or silver bell on the end of the hat to finish it off.

Merry Christmas!

Sosatie Party

It's time for another "foodie" idea.

Our sosatie party came as a result of Dad wanting to have an interactive meal, and with the inspiration of Chef Sam on our side, we ended up having a superb evening meal with everybody involved in the preparation thereof.

What you need:

* Enough metal skewers for everyone to have at least two each.

* A variety of different chopped-up foodstuffs. Here are some suggestions: MEAT: skinned, deboned chicken thighs, bacon rashers, cocktail viennas, diced beef. VEGETABLES: mushrooms, pineapple, diced butternut, baby potatoes, baby marrows, onion, baby tomatoes, diced red, yellow and green peppers. DESSERT: marshmallows, jelly tots, melon balls, papaya balls, strawberries, chocolate for dipping.

* Coarse salt and black pepper.

* Olive oil.

* Marinade (if preferred).

* A prepared barbeque.

What to do:

* Wash hands.

* Place all ingredients in easy reach of all dinner participants.

* Provide each person with a plate to work over and their metal skewers.

* Let everyone prepare their own skewers. Encourage a varied combination of ingredients.

* Suggest inserting onion and green pepper squares in between the cubes of meat - this adds to the flavour.

* Lightly season the prepared kebab sticks with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

*Drizzle olive oil over meat and vegetable kebabs. Marinade can be applied to meat kebabs if preferred.

* Place prepared skewers over hot coals. Turn regularly until cooked through. ( *Allocate an adult to supervise this activity closely!)

* Enjoy your fun-to-make and fun-to-eat meal!

Build-A-Bear

For a truly Pawsome experience, Build-A-Bear is a real treat! Not an everyday adventure, but a special indulgence, Build-A-Bear is an event that leaves an indelible mark on one's memory.

From choosing the critter that tugs most at your heart strings,

to giving it a voice.

From stuffing it with love and a gentle satin heart,

to giving it a fresh air-shower and a good brush down.

From choosing an outfit with accessories from head to toe,

to taking your new best friend home,

Build-A-Bear has become my children's event of the year!

Admittedly, a Build-A-Bear outing can also work out to be quite a costly excursion, but there are ways to have the experience without having to donate a kidney. For instance, we converted credit card points accumulated over a season to gift vouchers at a local shopping center which we then blew on Build-A-Bear, so our little trip didn't take cash out of our pockets.

Bird Feeder

This is a fun, and relatively quick activity which not only keeps little hands busy, but also enhances environmental awareness.

What you will need:

A pine cone. We picked ours up while out for a walk.

About 5 table-spoons of peanut butter, but it will depend on the size of your pine cone.

A knife or teaspoon for spreading.

A cup of bird seed.

String.

How to do it:

* Spread the peanut butter directly onto the pine-cone. Try to press it in between the branches of the pine cone to cover as much surface area as possible.

* Roll the peanut-buttery pine-cone directly in the bird seed. (This is a wonderful tactile experience as the bird seed quickly clings to the peanut butter - removing the stickiness - and creates a wonderfully smooth, yet bumpy texture on the pine cone. It's marvelous to run your fingers over!)

* Tie your length of string securely to the top of the pine cone.

* Choose a suitable branch from which to suspend your organic bird feeder and wait for your feathered friends to drop by...

Fun Spaghetti

I received this idea via a forwarded email, so I don't take responsibility for it, but I wanted to share it because it is a fun way to get the kids involved in the meal preparations. (The photos are my own original pics - just to prove that all ideas posted on the Vacation Station have been tried and tested by me and my crew!)

Quite simply, this is a fun way with an old favourite: Spaghetti and viennas.

You'll need:

Twice as many viennas as there are mouths to feed (two each).

Uncooked spaghetti.

Pot of boiling water (add oil and salt as you would when cooking any pasta)

How to do it:

Chop viennas into bite-size pieces.

Get the kids to push the spaghetti sticks through the viennas - about 6 or 7 sticks of spaghetti per piece of vienna.

Place the prepared spaghetti into the boiling water and cook as you would normal pasta.

Drain and serve!

This makes eating spaghetti a lot easier for little hands that usually lose the slippery strands from their forks - by stabbing the vienna onto your fork, you've got your spaghetti quite securely too!

Easy Bake Biscuits

I usually steer clear of baking because 1. I am not very good at it and 2. the recipes I have tend to be complicated and finicky, but the truth is: The children LOVE baking! And since The Vacation Station is all about keeping the children happy, we waded into the murky waters of home baked goodies.

After a little reassurance from my dear friend, Chef Sam, I tried out this recipe for butter biscuits which was easy, easy, easy! I had all the ingredients, for a start, and happened to find some choc chips stashed in the back of the cupboard, so we were even able to turn it up a notch on the fancy scale!

So, here it is then, Chef Sam's super easy biscuit recipe:

Hard Butter Biscuits

INGREDIENTS:

300g butter, softened

165g sugar

2 eggs

500g flour (you may not need all or you may need extra flour, depending on temp of butter and size of eggs.)

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 180˚C.

Cream butter and sugar and add eggs.

Mix well and add half the flour.

Mix together, using your hands or a wooden spoon.

At this stage, extras can be added (like choc chips or jelly tots).

Continue adding flour until the dough is no longer sticky.

Shape into desired shapes and bake on a greased baking tray for approximately 15 minutes, or until golden brown. (This depends on thickness of the shape.) - ours baked for 7 minutes at 160C

Allow to cool and harden slightly before lifting from the tray.